Lana Antonova

When you want to lose weight, are you quick to run to the latest fad diet?  Often a quick 5 to 10 pounds will come off quite fast, then your old eating habits return. If you stick with it to attain your weight goal, you may still find yourself back at the same weight or higher in a few months.  The market is filled with all kinds of gimmicks and promising diets. They’re always made to sound easy and fast; like the “pickle diet”, “Miami diet”, “Hollywood Diet”, and the list goes on.  Who do you think profits from these made-up diets??? Definitely NOT you. You end up spending your hard earned cash and at the end of the day, you’re at where you’ve started in no time. I’ll share with you as to why diets don’t work.

A Diet Should become a Lifestyle, Not an Event

On many diets, you are eating the foods you may not like very much and don’t find satisfying. If you are determined enough, you may stick with it until you reach your goal. But as soon as you go back to eating normally, you will quickly gain those pounds right back.  Why diets rather than finding healthier foods you enjoy in amounts that don’t cause weight gain.

Diets Can Be Downers

The very word “diet” is depressing to many of us. We think of giving up foods that are comforting and enjoyable.  We feel deprived, alienated and alone, except for others who are dieting. Eventually we give up and enter back into the world of happy uncontrolled eating, carrying negative feelings toward healthier “diet foods.”

The Dangers of the Yo-Yo Diet Cycle

Studies are finding dangers in the yo-yo diet cycle of losing weight, gaining it back plus a little more, losing, and gaining again. It is stressful on the body systems to have wide swings in body weight.  Plus Yo-Yo Dieting May Weaken Immune System.

Control Issues

At first a diet can give you a sense of control. You are taking charge of your eating patterns. You may see success as the scale drops. But soon you are fighting cravings for forbidden foods, as well as hunger pangs and a lack of energy from the lower calorie level. Eventually you rebel against the diet and start “cheating.”

Diets Slow Your Metabolism

Your body reacts to fewer calories by slowing down your metabolism — burning fewer calories each day just to maintain your body functions. If you don’t add exercise along with the diet, you will lose lean muscle mass as well as fat and water weight. When you lose muscle, your metabolism slows down even further and you would have to eat even fewer calories per day to continue to lose weight.

If you don’t exercise and then you fall off of the diet, the weight will come back on even faster, as your body is burning fewer calories per day. Even worse, the weight will come back on as fat rather than as the muscle you lost. Your body will look even less lean and healthy.

Solution: Get Active for at least 30 min to an Hour a Day, per Tim Trost’s recommendations

Your first step to improve your health and appearance is to begin daily exercise.  And if you’re new to exercising of haven’t done it in a while, please read Tim’s following post – Back to basics.  The exercise doesn’t have to be intense — you can even pick activities you enjoy such as walking, biking, or swimming. Get your body moving most days of the week.

Solution: Make Simple Eating Changes

Start thinking of how to implement healthy eating into your lifestyle.  Don’t forget — SMMO [smaller meals more often].  That’s the key.  And watch your portions, if it doesn’t fit on your palm, it’s too much for you, referring to the protein in your life.  And don’t make any drastic cuts, like cutting out bread or pasta at once.  The drastic changes will almost always cause the yo-yo effect.  To simplify – find a 100-calorie change you can make for this week. Perhaps it is drinking one less can of cola each day, or having non-fat milk in your coffee instead of cream. Substitute string cheese or an apple instead of a bag of potato chips. Make a 100-calorie change each week for the next six weeks and you will have made a significant change in your eating habits. Don’t think in terms of depriving yourself of foods you love, but eliminate empty calories you don’t really like and find substitutes that you can enjoy for the rest of your life.

And the most important thing – eat when you’re NOT hungry.  People always think that you have to eat only when you’re hungry, when your eating patterns are healthy, you should NEVER be hungry.  Hunger means something is out of balance.  You shouldn’t let more than 4 hours go by without food/snack.  This is very important! If you need ideas for snacking or want to read more about healthy reading, please refer to this post.

By making these changes, you can tip your energy balance to building and maintaining lean muscle while burning and losing fat. This will probably be gradual rather than dramatic, but you will eventually notice clothes fitting looser, your waistline shrinking, and your energy level higher.  For example, my father came to town, he was here for only 10 days.  He’s was under an impression that you should only eat twice a day.  So he gained a little weight around his belly.  Today he put his favorite jeans on and they fell off his waist.  He couldn’t believe it.  And this was even without any exercise.  He simply experienced healthy eating.  He now understands the effects of healthy eating, and will adjust his habits accordingly.

I’ve always struggled with weight myself, but NO MORE!  I eat what I want today, I don’t DIET, I don’t deprive myself from any foods.  I eat small meals, 6 times per day, two of them are snacks, of course.  I even eat pizza, ice cream, and cakes!!! But I exercise at least 4 times per week and I drink a lot of water and green tea.  My metabolism is faster in my 30’s than it was in my 20’s.

Just incorporating healthy eating and understanding that your eating habits should become your lifestyle – rather than gaining a few pounds each year, you will be losing a little weight each year. Friends who haven’t seen you in awhile will be impressed by the difference. Best of all, you will not have shocked your body with a deprivation diet, but instead have been feeding it appropriate amounts of better food while giving it the exercise it needs for health.

Going on vacation? Business trip? No weights around? No problem Kaos has you covered. The Kaos travel program was born because half of my clients are either on business trips or vacation half of the year and don’t always have access to weights and don’t want to lose what they worked so hard for. It is a mixture of yoga, plyos, iso-metrics, core work and a little kaos, all  can be done in a small space like your hotel room or your room at your friends or parents house. It can also be called “the-economy-got-you-down” workout because you don’t need the weights, machines or expensive gym memberships.   Here’s a little breakdown  of what each exercise will do and why this workout is effective.

Plyometrics is the ability to convert power into speed, they are great for building your white fibrous (explosive) muscles. Plyos are great for improving your quick movements and jumping ability but they are not just for the professional athletes.

Isometrics are exercises performed in a static position or holding yourself in one position against an unmovable object. Iso’s are a bit boring to do and will not increase your athletic ability but mixed in with the rest of the Kaos program are a nice adaptive.

Lets get to the workouts! What you will need for these workouts is a little space and a chair.  That’s it!

circuit 1. Russian lunges 20 reps or regular lunges 20 on each leg, 20 reps on each leg standing T bends, 20 reps of side bridges into 20 reps of the front bridge, 20 reps of plyo push ups

circuit 2. Hopper squats 20 reps, 20 reps of up-dog push ups into 20 reps of U-push ups, 40 reps of mountain climbers, 20 reps of T-push ups

circuit 3. Chair lunges 15 reps on each leg, side lunges 15 reps on each leg, bench dips 20 reps, incline chair push ups 20 reps, leg cross V crunches 20 reps each leg.

One of my favorite things to do on a vacation or a business trip is to strap on the running shoes and take  a tour of the town.   I always find little nooks and crannys of a city when I either run or walk it and it’s also one of the best ways to overcome jet lag.

Here’s a sample of a Kaos in room workout, with a little imagination and space you can get a workout anywhere, so don’t let your body fall apart when you don’t have the weights.

Lunges

Standing T Bends

Side Bridges

Front Birdge

Plyo push-up

Downdog push-up

U push-up

Chair lunge

Bench dips

Incline bench push-up

Jump squat

Crossed leg V crunch

First off, let’s just say that Bob Bancroft is a stud and I want to thank him for his post!  You can be sure you will be hearing from him again and maybe I can convince him to do another video soon.  Hopefully I can course a couple other of my clients to be guest authors and do videos too. 

We also have a few other things waiting in the wings for you:
1.  Cooking with chef boy-r- T and Johnny who is the ‘resident’ results by chef.

2. Destination Fitness L.A., where Lana and I will be taking you to different locations in L.A. to work out and get fresh foods.  You can incorporate all that into your life and we’ll have other different little tidbits to help you turn your life into a healthy life style!

I know a lot of the workouts I post are advanced and I don’t want to alienate anyone, so today we are going to bring it back to basics. When you are starting out, you want to build a strong foundation, starting from the inside with the stabilizers, form, flexibility and basic cardio. You are not going to start with power lifts or plyos, so lets break it down.
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1. Form: It is very important to get proper form from the beginning because it is always hard to break those bad habits. You can look around any gym and see the people swinging weight around, doing squats on there toes or rounding there shoulders on all upper body exercises. When I start with a new client, I like to use a ratio method of training, this is when you count the seconds of the negative and positive movement. For example, on a chest press you lower the weights 3 seconds down on the negative and 2 seconds up on the positive for a 2 to 3 ratio. The purpose of this is to really concentrate on your movements and make sure : 1. that you are using the muscles that you are supposed to, and 2. that you will have control of the weights at all times.  So when you are starting out ,don’t worry about the knuckle heads around you, use weights that are not too heavy. When the weight is too much, you start compensating with other muscles and that’s when I always hear people saying: “I don’t feel it in my chest, tris, back…”
When a lot of people start working out, they tend to use there shoulders in every exercises. That has a lot to do with using the wrong weight (too heavy) and not getting in the correct position from the start.   Don’t be afraid to ask the trainers at your gym to watch your form and correct it, most will be happy to advise you.

2. Flexibility: At the end of your workouts stretching for 10 minutes will increase blood supply and nutrients to joint structures giving greater elasticity of the surrounding tissues. Do not force your stretches, flexibility like weight training doesn’t happen over night. With greater flexibility comes less risk of muscle tears.

3.Building a strong core: In just about every athletic movement we do, we engage our core, so to to lower the risk of injury building a strong core (Abs, back, pelvic floor and hips) is essential. They are not as glamorous to work but trust me, very important. On any weight training movement tightening the abs while performing the exercise will keep your form tight and also strengthen the core. Conventional ab work is just one of the many ways to strengthen the core.

4. Cardio for beginners: Because we can’t all start with 4 mile soft sand runs the treadmill is good to start with. Running on the treadmill is not the only way to juice up the workouts, using the elevation is also a good way to intensify the workout without adding the impact of running.  Start with walking intervals at level 1 for 2 minutes and moving up to level 4 for 2 minutes and repeat 10 times. When this gets too easy, move up the level or shorten the amount of time you are at level 1. Cardio is working out in the presence of oxygen so I suggest anywhere from 18 to 30 minutes.

5.  Building strong joints: Building strong joint and stabilizing muscles will increase your ability to strengthen your major muscle groups and help reduce injury.  Building strong rotator cuffs (The small muscles and tendons in the shoulder) will help with form, strength and posture, therma-bands are great ways for beginners to strengthen the rotator cuff ( I will do a video soon demonstrating these exercises)

If you build the body from the inside out and first concentrate on the basics, there is no limmit to where your fitness levels can go! I know it’s not the most glamorous but trust me, in no time you will be increasing the difficulty of your workouts, I always like to revisit the basics myself because it still helps me get to higher levels of fitness.

I’ll be 60 in a couple of months. I like to give myself a nice big gift on any birthday that ends in zero. This year the gift is fitness. Look at the videos and see what you think. And bear in mind, I was never an athlete, never played sports. Never a Navy Seal, much less a Marine.

I started training with Tim Trost right after I turned 50. I was rehabbing a bunch of injuries sustained over the years — and quite frankly, I was battling the aging process. We’ve moved past the injuries, past the aging, and now we’re well into serious fitness. And this last year, particularly the last six months, we’ve really stepped it up.

Some things I’ve learned:
1. Mix it up. Try new things. In life as well as in fitness. You’ll see in the videos that I had no idea what we were going to do, and one exercise (the mountain climbers on the weighted ball) I’d forgotten. Turned out to be, for me, the best exercise we did.
2. Motivation is key. Hang with people who don’t let you settle. You can see that on the videos too.
3. Competition is critical. It’ll move you way past what you think you can do. Watch the pushups we did – yeah, Tim’s form is better than mine, but did he put me away? Not even close.
4. It’s gotta be fun. If you’re not enjoying it, you’re doing it wrong. Whatever it is.
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Me at 60 vs. me at 50:
1. I’m more physical. I have more stamina, more strength, more agility. (Even when I fail at the speed hurdle thing – that was lame – but still, an improvement.)
2. I’m smarter, and the brain works better. Combine exercise with constant change, and you create new patterns in the brain.
3. I look better. People I haven’t seen in years say, “Dang, what happened to you?” And they mean that in a good way.
4. I have way more confidence, way more belief in myself. That never hurts.
5. I’m taller. Okay, I’m not. But I think I am. And that’s what counts.

My weekly workout routine (wrong to call it a routine, because it’s anything but):
1. train with Tim twice a week
2. run with Tim and the guys on Sundays (today was my best time ever — motivation, competition, and fun just all kicked in at once)
3. workout with my pal Yogi whenever we can (my goal is to kick his ass, but since he’s like, 27 and seriously athletic, that’s still a little ways off…)
4. at home pullups (20+), pushups (60+), situps (70+ in 2 minutes) maybe twice a week
5. at home Pilates (from books) or yoga (from Yoga for Regular Guys, by Diamond Dallas Page, the professional wrestler) maybe twice a week
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttwqBHC71EA]
Occasional workouts:
1. the dunes in Manhattan Beach (a serious challenge – but total fun)
2. trail run, Temescal Canyon
3. the stairs, Santa Monica Canyon (only the wooden ones)
4. Bikram Yoga – it’s awesome, I don’t care what anyone says…

It’s a commitment. Sounds like a lot of time, but it really isn’t. Most of the workouts are around 45 minutes. Pullup/pushup/situp circuit is 10 minutes, tops. Eating the high-quality fuel you need, okay, that takes some time. But you’re eating anyway, right? Why not do it well?

Life can throw you some serious curve-balls. I’ve had a few, and I continue to. But I deal with them better now than I did in my 30’s and 40’s. I’m more solid, more grounded, more clear on who I am. For me the foundation is fitness. And I’ve been fortunate to find extremely good guidance.
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Actor Bob Bancroft

Keeping with the theme of keeping it fresh — I am going to have guest authors telling their stories.  We already have an actress Lana Antonova as our first guest author, for my second guest author, I thought who’s better than Bob?

Bob Bancroft is an actor and fitness inspiration to me, he is now 60 and in amazing shape. He runs with me every Sunday morning, either 4 mile soft sand runs or 6 mile hard surface runs. He also works out with me twice a week and as you will see our workouts are not for the faint at heart, these workouts can work for 20 or 60!  Bob Bancroft is my client and above all my friend.

Bob Bancroft fell into acting in his late 30’s.  Literally.  He tripped over the threshold at his first audition, and landed face first on the casting director’s desk, resume in hand.  He’s played scientists and doctors, priests and killers, regular guys and nuts jobs ever since.  He’s from a tiny town in the backwoods of Vermont with no stop lights, no cable tv, but thankfully now, electricity.  He has a daughter who works in post-production who advises him on modern advances, like the internets.

Thanks Bob for willing to contribute to ResultsBy Fitness Blog!

This is just a quick post to wish my sweet mama Happy Birthday!  Her B’Day is today,  I know she reads the blog bright and early, so this will be a nice surprise!
We love you,
Tim & Lana

Happy Birthday Mama!

Weather it’s a movie like  Rocky, Chariots of fire, 300 or Fight Club — find something that motivates you. I talked about my music but I also find that the surroundings really affects my work outs.  As I mentioned before, I work out at Gold’s gym in Venice, CA and for all its flaws, it is a great place to workout. I mean where else can you be doing bench presses next to Lou Ferrigno, Russian lunges next to the half of the NFL or squats next to the UCLA track team — you’ve got to admit, it’s motivating!

So my question is: are your surroundings motivate or demotivate you?

If you feel like you need a change, it’s as easy as trying out a new gym, or taking your friend up on that offer to try a new class. I also love the outdoors, there is something very calming about running on the beach, or going for a hike. The beautiful thing about working out is that there is always something new to do and you can make it what ever you want! If it’s not motivating or it’s not fun, try something new because there is something very satisfying about trying new things and getting better at them and feeling that sense of accomplishment!

In this wonderful yet fast pace world we don’t always have one hour six times a week to fit in a workout. A lot of my clients have demanding  jobs, so they don’t have  the luxury of time…so I had to developed workouts to suit those needs — thus Kaos on the Fly was born. Over the years I have heard of many rules to working out: you have to train at least an hour, break it up into push pull, don’t mix anaerobic and aerobic workouts; throw those out the window. Our body was made to work as a single unit, when you pick up a box you engage your core, legs, chest, arms… When you walk or drive to work you use multiple muscles, even when you brush your teeth you are using more than just your arm, I think you get the point. These workouts are great for when time is of the essence, so if you don’t have that hour, here are a couple samples of Kaos on the Fly.

At home:

You need a mat, jump rope, medicine ball and dumbbells. I want you to keep your body moving for 30 min with minimal breaks. It will be hard at first but your body will adapt and when it does, we will switch up the workout again.

Circuit 1.   12-15 reps of each, 3 times through the circuit. Single arm dumbbell chest presses, dumbbell skull crushers, one arm dumbbell rows, plyo-pushups, 1 minute speed rope

Circuit 2.   12-15 reps of each, 3 times through the circuit. Dumbbell dead lifts, dumbbell single arm snatches (same as if you were using a kettle bell, you can check it out on “start your workout the Kaos way) mountain climbers hands on the medicine ball, Russian lunges, 30 seconds of speed rope.

At the park or beach:

Most parks have pull up bars, if you can find that area. You will need a little space for sprints, a mat, dumbbells and a kettle bell.

Circuit 1:   12-15 reps each, 3 times through circuit.  Dumbbell straight legged dead lifts(Romanian dead lifts) Dumbbell clean and press, pull ups or push ups if pull ups are to hard, dumbbell hammer curls, five, fifty yard sprints

Circuit 2:   12-15 reps each, 3 times through circuit. Hopper squats, dumbbell curls with a twist, kettle bell globe trotters (Go to start your workout the Kaos way for a demo) shoulder side lateral raises, 4 shuttle runs or if you don’t know these repeat five, fifty yard sprints

At the gym:

Alright, you can use the stationary bike, tread mill or stair stepper, bring with you a couple set of dumbbells.

Circuit 1:   Dumbbell shoulder presses, Tricep  over head extension, bench press, bench dips, hop on the bike for 2 minutes and set it at a challenging setting, every 15 seconds go up as if you were riding up a hill and then sitting down again keeping your core engaged at all times.

For this circuit we are going to switch to barbells

Circuit 2:   15-25 reps, 3 times through circuit: Barbell shoulder presses, barbell curls, barbell straight legged dead lifts, now hop on the treadmill and we are going to do 15 seconds at max effort and 30 seconds of recovery speed for 2 minutes.

I am a realist, I know time is tight for a lot of you, but I also know you can always find a least 3o minutes 3 times a week to work out. Think of these workouts as blueprints, mix and match any excercises you want into the chaos. If you only have 30 minutes keep your body moving don’t waste your time and make your workouts count.